Hidden Gifts

My mother shops for Christmas all year long. I've already mentioned how big my Dad's side of the family is. The events in our family all seem to fall near the end of the year. August brings Mom's and Drew's birthdays. September is Sydney's birthday and my sister's anniversary. October is Cobalt's birthday and was my Grandma Wager's birthday. November is chock full: Onyx, Laura, Grandma Primeau and Aunt Vera have birthdays, and Grandma & Grandpa Primeau have their anniversary. In December we always had Grandpa Wager's birthday, followed closely by Mom & Dad's anniversary, and then of course Christmas. Grandpa Primeau's birthday is New Years' Day and Aunt Arlene's is near the end of January. Whew!

It's always been enough to drive a king into poverty. So it requires careful planning. I have learned from Mom's example, and plan things out in advance. When it may seem like I have too much money in April, I try to remember that in another six months I'm going to have a lot of events. If I see something in May that I know my sister will just love, I buy it and put it away. There are dangers to this. I don't recommend buying clothing for children so far in advance-they could completely outgrow it by the time their birthday or Christmas comes around. It's also a problem if you think the person might return the gift-as most stores have a tight return policy. But, those two drawbacks aside, it is very helpful to shop year round.

It was not uncommon for Mom to hit clearance sales in January and start buying for the following Christmas. Mom and Dad's house isn't very large, so Mom had to get creative with her hiding spots. She also had to plan to put gifts where two curious children would not look. Sometimes she solved that problem by wrapping the gifts after she bought them, even if it was months before the event. Once she had the gifts wrapped, she could put them on the stairs leading to the attic. Dad seemed to appreciate this every time he had to get into the attic to get window screens out, or switch the window screens with the storm windows, or to eventually get the tree and Christmas decorations down.

One of Mom's favorite hiding places was the 'Potty Chair'. The correct name of the chair is the 'Chamber Pot Chair'. But we always called it the potty chair. It is a large high back chair (it stands over 5' tall). The chair is covered in a gold velour type fabric. Not the harvest gold that was popular in the 1970s. No, this gold is more of a Victorian or early 20th century color. The fabric goes to the floor, covering the legs of the chair in this slightly pleated skirt. If you lift up the cushion of the chair, there is a circle cut in the middle of the seat, and inside, is an authentic chamber pot. I do not know who the chair originally belonged to, or how on earth we ended up with it. No doubt it was probably some old Aunt's, and it just got passed down. I don't know if it was used for it's original purpose, but you kind of have to think it was. This chair sat in Mom & Dad's room for a very long time (now it has been relocated to the 'guest' room which I occupy when I visit). It is an ideal hiding space- you can get a lot of things underneath the skirt (including larger items), and you can hide items in the chamber pot too- because the cushion goes back over the pot.

On Christmas morning, we woke up and opened our stockings. Then we had breakfast, and after breakfast we were allowed to open presents. Someone (usually my sister, because she was so eager), would pass out the presents. We each had our own spot in the living room (mine was on the floor in front of the TV). Mom's presents would get stacked next to her recliner, Dad's next to his, Laura's in front of the couch, and mine by the TV. Then it was time to open the gifts. Frequently, after all of the presents were unwrapped, Mom asked 'is that all?' or 'Are you sure there's not something else under the tree?' I know it wasn't every year, but it became so common it felt like every year. When we told Mom there was nothing else under the tree, she looked thoughtful. It really has become a bit of a family joke. Mom knew exactly what present was missing, and who it was for, the problem was she didn't know where it was.

That's when the treasure hunt began. She would say 'Now where did I put that?' and we'd tear the house apart looking for the well hidden gift. It became as much of a tradition as going to church on Christmas Eve. It may have been a small gift, or it could be the 'big' gift. Sometimes it was mine, sometimes Laura's, and sometimes Dad's. This is how we learned she liked to hide things in the potty chair, and it became one of the first places we looked in later years. But of course, since we were onto her hiding spots, she found new ones.

A couple of years, after the gifts were all open, we looked at Mom and asked 'is that all?' It wasn't a planned part of Christmas, but it was one of those special things that set our Christmas apart from the ones our neighbors or friends had.

The older I get, the more I turn into my mother. This used to bother me, but it doesn't any more. I can only hope to become as great a woman as she is. At least we don't have to worry about the hidden presents going away! I have been known to buy gifts, and hide them so well I don't find them until after Christmas- about four or five months after Christmas. While Mom knows what is missing, I don't realize I'm missing something. A couple years ago I bought this great book for my Dad about the Pettys. I bought it to give to him for Christmas. I forgot about it at Christmas, I forgot about it in March for his birthday, I forgot about it in June for Father's Day. When I found it, it was almost Christmas again, so I wrapped it up and gave it to him. He loved it. Just as I knew he would-the year before!